Reclamation
by nightingaleofshadow
Summary: On a mission to Reaper base on Rannoch, how will Commander Isaac Shepard deal with the monstrous secret it holds? EDIT: I realized i had done a poor job of explaining the biotic defense Shepard used against the Destroyer, so I felt the urge to go back and rectify it.


Staring into the massive hole in front of him, Commander Isaac Shepard took a deep breath, and leveled the large, gunlike device in his hands on the center of a structure inside it. The device, an advanced targeting laser that had been synced up to the Normandy's targeting systems, began to beep rapidly as he saw the display light up like a flare. The communicator embedded in his helmet began to chime with EDI's voice as the laser finished syncing.

"Shepard, you should withdraw to a safe distance, or you may be caught in the blast."

Ignoring her, Shepard focused on the targeting laser, and watched as the holographic screen indicated it's completion, as the Normandy itself appeared from the clouds, racing towards his target.

"Target locked". EDI's voice rang in his ears again, as the Normandy fired a barrage of missiles into the hole.

A massive explosion rocked the geth base, and the ledge Shepard was standing on, causing him to reel for a moment, before falling the 35 feet to the lower floor below, while Tali'zorah's voice rang in his ears as he fell, the worry evident.

"Shepard!"

Landing on his back, Shepard simply lay there for a moment, winded, as Tali and Garrus landed next to him, both of them on their feet. Tali was at his side in an instant, looking down at him with what he supposed was worry.

"Shepard, are you all right?" She practically shrieked.

"I'm okay, Tali. Don't want to try that again anytime soon, but i'm okay."  
Shakily standing up, Shepard looked into the hole, and reeled back in horror. Inside it, slowly moving up, was a living wall of metal. One colossal foreleg appeared out of the hole, and crushed the ground beneath it as it hit.

"Reaper!"

Shouting to his team, Shepard saw a small Geth Ground Transport about 200 feet from him skid to a stop. Another mechanized voice rang in his communicator.

"Shepard-Commander, we have located transportation!" Legion's mechanical voice was not quite as reassuring as it should have been, given the situation.

Signaling to Garrus and Tali, Shepard started running towards the transport, and had to roll to the side to dodge another limb from the ascending Reaper. A geth trooper landed just behind him, but before it could line up it's sights, Garrus hit it in the back of the head, and Tali finished it off with a shot from her pistol.

Upon reaching the transport, Shepard climbed on top, grabbing on to the mounted cannon, while making sure that his team made it inside, destroying any geth in his sights, before aiming at the Reaper, which had reached ground level.

Even for a Destroyer-Class Reaper, it seemed massive. As the transport took off like a bullet, Shepard began firing the cannon at the massive construct, in the hopes of maybe getting a lucky shot to the "Eye". At the same time, he spoke into his radio, which was patched into the entirety of the quarian fleet.

"This is Shepard. It's not just a Reaper base, it's a live Reaper! We need an orbital strike!" He shouted into the earpiece.

The massive construct had by then pulled itself out of the hole it had been ensconced in, and was chasing after the geth transport ship, piloted by Legion. It's carapace opened up, revealing a the colossal firing chamber, which began to glow with a crimson light. Taking a chance, Shepard quickly told the fleet to fire at will, heedless of the relatively short distance between the transport and the Reaper.

"We're clear, fire at will!"

There was a streak of light from the sky, and an explosion rocked the shell of the Reaper, staggering it and sending it to the ground, creating a large dust cloud as it landed. Shepard could feel the transport swerve in an attempt to avoid the dust, and after a few seconds, it righted itself, and Legion pulled it to a stop.

"What did we hit?" The voice of Admiral Han'Gerrel chimed in Shepard's ear, sounding anxious.

"The firing chamber. It looks like it's a weak point when it's priming." The young commander replied, squinting at the Reaper.

"Damn it, their jamming towers have us targeting manually, we can't make a precision shot." The admiral now sounded angry.

Legion's synthetic voice echoed in Shepard's ear after the quarian admiral had finished talking.

"We may escape before it recovers."  
Thinking hard, and thinking fast, Shepard shook his head, deciding to end the threat once and for all.

"No, pull over."

"Shepard-commander?"

Shepard jumped down off of the transport as it skidded to a halt, his armor driving him momentarily to his knees. Standing up, he took the prototype targeting laser from where he had placed it on his back. Looking back at the transport, Shepard's frown turned into an angry grimace.

"No. If we run away, the geth stay under Reaper control, and the quarians are dead. This ends now!"

Switching channels to the Normandy, Shepard gave orders to EDI to patch the entire quarian fleet into the Normandy's targeting system, combining all of the weapons into one massive barrage of lasers.

Turning back to the Reaper, Shepard breathed in through his nose, and walked towards a nearby cliff where he could have a clear shot at the construct. As he did, Tali's voice chimed in his ear. The young woman sounded terrified.

"Isaac… If this doesn't… If we don't make it…"

Shepard paused, and afforded himself a small smile at her worry.

"You worry too much."  
"I love you"

The words caught Shepard off guard. To know the truth through unspoken actions, and to hear those 3 words were entirely different things. He then realized the depths of their bond, which ignored cultural stigmas and racial differences, and realized he didn't know what to say, so he improvised, hoping that there would be a later to tell her how he felt.

"Keelah'selai."

Gritting his teeth, Shepard faced the Reaper as it picked itself up off the ground, turning its attention to the sky, and the fleet, which was still firing upon it, but doing considerably less damage.

"Shepard to fleet! I'll paint the weak spot. Link up with the Normandy and be ready to fire!"

Pulling the strange trigger on the laser, Shepard aimed it directly at the Reaper's firing chamber, and allowed it to focus, until it chimed with a high pitched whine.

The rockets continued to barrage against the Reaper, doing minimal damage, but the hail managed to stagger it again. When it regained it's footing, the construct had focused on Shepard instead, realized the source of the true threat, walking forwards as it charged it's beam.

Diving to the side to avoid the attack, Shepard pulled the trigger again, and was rewarded by a satisfying explosion rocking the Reaper again, until he realized just how close it was to him.

When it had regained its footing, the Reaper was standing directly over him, it's firing chamber already glowing. Pulling the trigger, Shepard realized that he didn't have enough time for the laser to finish targeting.

Placing the laser on his back, Shepard instead adopted a wide stance, and began to focus as much biotic energy as he could into his hands, forming a wall. It wouldn't be able to stop the blast dead, but maybe he could misdirect it and give himself enough time to get away and finish the targeting.

The Reaper fired just as he finished forming his biotic wall.

Had Shepard been standing exactly in the beams way, he would have been vaporized instantaneously. But as luck would have it, he had been standing about a foot to the left of the beams path, so the wall still partially served it's purpose. Instead of blocking or misdirecting the attack, it was instead pushed backwards, and by that rule, so was the young Commander. Every nerve in Shepard's body, even in his synthetic arm, was on fire as he was sent flying through the air, landing hard on his back 35 meters away from the Reaper. Doing his best to ignore the excruciating pain and Tali's scream of horror, Shepard managed to pull the targeting laser off his back, and somehow aimed it at the Reaper.

A withering hail of rockets and lasers buffeted the Reaper, many striking the "eye", crippling the construct and sending it, one last time, to the ground, where it lay, active but disabled, as even more attacks from the quarian fleet assaulted it.

Shepard managed to pull himself to his feet, and stagger towards the cliff, as Garrus, Tali and Legion climbed out of the transport. He arrived at the precipice just as the Reaper "died", the light in it's "eye" going out, never to rekindle.

He sank to one knee, exhausted and in agony, as Tali reached him, and she pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, burying her mask in his shoulder. Ignoring them, Legion walked to the cliff face, observing the Reaper's massive metallic corpse.

Attempting to extricate himself from the quarian's vicelike embrace, Shepard tried to turn to Legion, but Tali stopped him.

"Your hair…Isaac, your hair is white"

Shepard frowned, putting a hand up to his short, usually jet black hair. He had never been to worried about his own hair, but now he felt slightly self conscious about it. Tali wasn't finished, however.

"Don't you ever do that to me again. You could have gotten yourself killed, you… you… you...!"

Wincing at her sharp tone, Shepard attempted to placate her, but she was finished yelling. As he managed to pull himself from her arms, he turned to Legion, who spoke.

"We can confirm that the geth are no longer being directed by the Old Machines. We are free."

As Legion finished speaking, Shepard's ear was assaulted by the eager voice of Han'gerrel again.  
"You did it, Shepard! The geth fleet has stopped firing. They're completely vulnerable!"

Turning to the commander rather quickly, Legion spoke, this time with a sense of urgency in it's modulated voice.

"Shepard-Commander, the geth only acted in defense after the creators attacked. Do we deserve death?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"Our upgrades. With the Old Machine dead, we could upload them to all geth without sacrificing their independance. We would all be as capable and knowing as we were under the influence of the Old Machine. We would become a true intelligence, alive and able to help you."

Tali reacted to this, speaking in slightly panicky tones to Shepard.

"Our fleet is already attacking, uploading the code would destroy us! Shepard, you can't choose the geth over my people!"

Her use of his surname was blatantly obvious, when she usually refered to him by his first name, the only person he allowed to do so. But as she spoke, voices raced through Shepard's head. The voice of Kaiden Alenko, who had died on Virmire, and the voices of countless humans, who had died saving the council during Sovereign's assault on the Citadel. He had made a choice like this 2 times before, and he knew that there was no right answer, and no matter what he did, the universe would suffer.

Legion spoke again, in it's strangly calm voice.

"Do you remember the question that caused the creators to attack use, Tali'zorah? Does this unit have a soul?"

Thinking made Shepard's head throb even more than it already did, but he had to make a decision, and fast.

"Legion, upload the code. Tali, call off the fleet if you can."  
Legion faced the cliff, and a large orange orb, reminiscent of an omni-tool, appeared between it's outstretched hands. Tali spoke into her comm, attempting to halt Han'gerrel's assault on the geth.

"This is Admiral Tali'zorah, all units break off your attack!"  
But Gerrel would not be denied his petty hatred.

"Belay that order, continue the attack!"

Tali walked to Legion, her voice stricken and scared.

"I beg you, do not do this, please."

"We regret the deaths of the creators, but we see no alternative. Fifty percent complete."

At that moment, Shepard had a moment of completely clarity. He saw a solution, and was determined to follow it to it's conclusion.

"No. No one else dies today. Legion keep going. Tali, patch me in to the fleet. I want every single quarian to hear this."

"All ships, this is Commander Shepard. The Reaper is dead, stand down!"

Moving quickly, Tali joined her voice to his.

"This is Admiral Tali'zorah, and Shepard speaks with my authority.

An unexpected voice joined them.

"And mine as well" Admiral Zal'koris vas Qwib Qwib spoke.

But again, Gerrel refused to listen to reason.  
"Negative! We can win this war now! Keep firing!"  
Speaking personally to Han'gerrel now, Shepard raised his voice. Every quarian would hear this.

"Han'gerrel, stop this right now. The geth are about to return to full strength, and when they do they will perceive you as a threat. Your entire history is war with the geth. You forced them to rebel, and you forced them to ally with the Reapers. If you don't stop firing right now, they will wipe you out, and I will personally make sure every single surviving Quarian knows that it was you who killed them all. Because you, for one single minute could not imagine that the geth don't want to fight you. I will tell every survivor about the monstrous Admiral Han'gerrel, who, because he couldn't let go of his hate, doomed his race. But the choice is yours. Keelah'selai."

There was a pause as Gerrel considered this.

"All ships, cease fire"

Shepard had never been more relieved in his life. The fact that no one had died because of a decision he made, brought a laugh to his lips. It was a manic sound, full of relief, exhaustion and physical pain, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

"For once, everyone came out in one piece."

No sooner had he spoke, then Legion turned to him.

"Error, copying code is insufficient. Direct personality dissemination… required. Shepard-Commander, I must go to them. I'm sorry. It's the only way."

"Legion, the answer to your question was "yes." Tali had walked to the geth's side.

"I know Tali. But thank you. Keelah'selai."

The lights on Legion went out, and the geth collapsed to it's knees, before pitching face forward into the ground, and lying, motionless.

Shepard was speechless. So close to getting everyone out alive, and then this had happened. His headache grew even worse, and his heart ached as well. He sank to his knees, exhausted and devastated, before turning the fall into a sitting position, where Tali, who hadn't noticed him collapse, joined him after turning away from Legion's body. When she sat, she took hold of his hand, squeezing it tightly. Fighting to stay conscious, Shepard spoke to the woman beside him.

"You okay? I know working with the geth will be difficult."  
"I'm not staying. I"m coming with you."  
Shepard looked at Tali in surprise. He had fully thought she would stay with her people after all of this.

"I wasn't going to ask you."  
"Why not?"  
"Because I love and respect you, Tali. I know how much you want to help your people. You think I don't want you to come with me?"  
"I gave up my father for my people. I gave up my freedom for an admiral position I didn't want. I'm not giving up you."

"Tali…"  
"I don't know how much time we have left. I don't know if we can beat the Reapers. But whatever happens, i'm not leaving your side again."

Smiling lightly to himself, Shepard put his head on his knees. The edge of his vision was going dark.

"Then lets go make sure your new homeworld stays safe."  
"Thanks. When this is all over, and the Reapers are gone, and everyone is safe…"

"Then we can build that house on the homeworld." Shepard cut her off, giving her hand a squeeze.

Tali stood up, and with difficulty, Shepard followed her. As he turned, he saw Admiral Shala'raan coming towards them, but his vision began to blur. Frowning, Shepard took a shaky step forward, before sinking to his knees, blacking out, finally spent. The last thing he heard before darkness enveloped him was Tali shouting.

Coming to, Shepard opened his eyes, only for a blinding white light to pierce them, forcing him to shut them fast. As he tried to sit up, he felt a three fingered hand push him back down onto the soft surface he was lying on.

"Doctor, he's awake!" Tali's voice rang out.

He heard a chair being pushed aside, and soft footsteps coming toward him. A soft fabric was placed over his eyes, and he opened them slightly to see a cloth filtering the light.

"What the hell were you thinking, Commander. You very nearly killed yourself." The irritated voice of Doctor Karin Chakwas was loud and clear. She had never pulled any punches with him, and now was no exception.

"You're lucky to be alive. Using your biotics to allow yourself to get blasted out of harms way. I've always known you were reckless but this is new, even for you. You've been out for days."  
Sighing, Shepard let her tirade continue. There was nothing else he could possible do. Whatever she had done, his headache was gone, and he felt slightly better.

"Oh let him up Tali. He's going to try anyway."  
Tali's hand left his chest, and Shepard sat up, pulling the cloth from his eyes. The light had mostly faded, although everything was still brighter than usual. He had been lying on one of the medical tables in Doctor Chakwas's infirmary, he found.

"Get him to his cabin, and give him this. I want him sleeping for a few more hours."

With a final mutter of "Reckless little pain", Chakwas practically shoved them out of the infirmary, with Shepard leaning on Tali for support, the pair made their way to the elevator of the Normandy, and towards Shepard's cabin.

5 Hours later, Shepard walked into the CIC, buttoning up his shirt. Tali had gone down to engineering to help out, and Shepard had a report to file with Admiral Hackett.

As he walked out of the elevator, he nearly ran into Samantha Traynor.

"Oh! Sorry commander! I didn't mean to…" She trailed off, her gazed fixed on his throat.

"What?"

"Your neck, commander. Are those… bite marks?"

Self consciously buttoning his last button, Shepard sidestepped Traynor, before turning to her, smiling tiredly.

"In case you ever get curious, Traynor, quarian females have fangs."


End file.
